Interrogating Psychiatric Narratives of Madness: Documented Lives

This book challenges the perception of the psychiatric chart as a neutral and objective text, highlighting the institutional ideology that activates in chart documentation to produce psychiatric narratives of distress and related responses. It is a valuable resource for mental health professionals, education and training programs, and researchers who consider the social and structural materiality of people's lives and its impact on experiences of distress.

Format: Hardback
Length: 194 pages
Publication date: 14 November 2021
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland AG

This book takes a groundbreaking approach to examining the psychiatric chart, challenging the notion that it is a neutral and objective document. Through a comprehensive analysis of the chapters included, the book reveals that the psychiatric chart is, in fact, a "storied" text influenced by institutional ideology that reflects, reinforces, reinterprets, and at times resists gendered, raced, sexualized, and classed norms, values, and presuppositions. Intersectional analysis highlights the intricate ways in which dominant ideologies are activated in chart documentation to produce qualitatively specific psychiatric narratives of distress and related responses within the psychiatric institution.

This book is a vital resource for mental health professionals, education and training programs, and researchers who seek to understand the social and structural materiality of people's lives and its profound impact on experiences of distress. It offers a comprehensive perspective that recognizes the intersectionality of various factors and sheds light on the ways in which they shape mental health outcomes. The book will also appeal to scholars engaged in equity in health care across the fields of Critical Psychology, Disability Studies, Social Work, Allied Health, Mad Studies, and Social Justice.

By delving into the complexities of the psychiatric chart, this book provides a valuable contribution to the field of mental health and offers a deeper understanding of the power dynamics at play in the psychiatric institution. It serves as a call to action for professionals and researchers to challenge the status quo and to work towards creating more inclusive and equitable mental health systems that prioritize the well-being of all individuals.

Weight: 435g
Dimension: 210 x 148 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783030836917
Edition number: 1st ed. 2021